"Floridians for Fair and Impartial Courts" brings together voices of reason urging the legislature to retreat from an ill-advised attempt to seize control of Florida’s third branch of government.

Vigorous opposition is needed to defeat this over-reaching legislation. We invite all who value fair and impartial courts to join our campaign – and urge lawmakers to maintain the balance of power between our co-equal branches of government.

Supreme Court overhaul drastically scaled back

House and Senate leaders reached a compromise Monday on a plan to dramatically overhaul Florida’s Supreme Court, with senators adopting a significantly scaled back version of House Speaker Dean Cannon’s signature issue.

Senators scratched Cannon’s proposal to split the court into a criminal division and a civil division. They also decided not to expand the court from seven to 10 justices or allow Gov. Rick Scott to pick the chief justice, as Cannon originally proposed. Many senators – both Democrats and Republicans – expressed strong misgivings about a split and expanded court.